HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- "I think we're up to like 65
different guitar players at this point," Living Deads upright bassist/singer
Symphony Tidwell says.

For the last two-and-a-half years, Tidwell and drummer/singer
Randee McKnight have operated as a punkabilly rhythm section with no permanent
guitarist, "kidnapping" different musicians across the country to play with
them on tour.

"Before we were in The Living Deads we were in a normal
format band and we had the same guitar player," says Tidwell, 32, who is attractive
in a tattooed-pinup-girl sort of way. "He quit the band as we were leaving at
three in the morning from Denver for a tour."

Tidwell and McKnight, who are romantic partners as well as
musical, had previously thought of a dream-concert gimmick where they'd unveil
a famous guitarist, such as Brian Setzer or Joan Jett, onstage that they'd "kidnapped"
to jam with them. When the Denver axe-man split, it necessitated this plan
actually be put in action, but using local, working musicians.

"So after we finished the tour, we'd kidnapped someone in a
different city every night," Tidwell says. "We didn't cancel any shows, and we
became known for it."

The Living Deads, whose touchstones range from Wanda Jackson
to The Ramones, will play the Kaffeeklatsch Bar (103 Jefferson St.) 9 p.m. Jan. 11.
Cover is $5. When called for this interview, Tidwell is chilling at a rural
Kentucky cabin before a Louisville, Ky. gig.

Symphony, so who is
going to be playing guitar with you guys at the Huntsville show?

You're going to have to wait and see who we drag out of the
burlap sack.

You literally drag
your guitarist out of a burlap sack onstage.

Yes. I made them myself. As Randee said, we need to double
stich them so (the guitarists) can get out. We have about a seven-minute video
intro that we show before our live show, and after the video's done, we drag
him out and we play.

How long does each
guitarist tour with you or do they only play one gig?

We have a guy in the burlap sack just for tonight in Louisville,
and then we're going to be kidnapping a guy out of Nashville for the string of
shows when we're coming down through Huntsville, and we'll have him with us for
six weeks.

Is there a good story
behind The Living Dead's song "Everything Is Broke (But Our Love)"?

We've been living in the RV full-time for three years, and
two summers ago we were in our little secret spot of land in Colorado. Randee
was trying to track down a problem with the RV, finally tracked down the
problem and the part was hard to find. So we were kind of stuck.

Then, one night I was about to give Randee a haircut and the
clippers were broke. He was like, "Everything is broke. Everything we own is
broke." And I was trying to be real positive and I said, "Everything's broke
but our love, baby," and he actually wrote the song that night. Then we got
together and I kind of came up with the melody and we recorded it the RV.

How would you
describe Randee's drumming?

He goes off like a bomb onstage. You can't take your eyes
off of him. One minute he's standing up and playing, the next he's standing on
top of his drums and hitting them with a baseball bat, kicking stuff over. He's
wild.

What initially drew
you to the upright bass?

I was drawn to the upright bass for the percussive nature.
Actually when I met Randee, I asked him to give me some drums lessons and so we
did. And he said, "Hey, you've got rhythm you should get an upright bass." I'd
never considered it. I'd never played bass. Visually it's such a fun
instrument, too. It's this whole other entity to work with onstage, physically.
I love everything about it. I actually played electric bass for the first time
over the weekend, and it's completely different. It was OK. It's not something where
I can see myself running out and buying one.

The Living Deads have
a Jan. 16 show coming up at the notorious Atlanta strip club Clermont Lounge. What's
a gig like there?

We haven't played there yet but we've been there once. We
saw a stripper crush a beer can with her butt cheeks. It's a crazy place. I can't
wait.